Ship the bulky gear to Reno.

A locker is the self-service box. Amazon's pickup page says there is no additional cost to use one, that the package is held for three days, and that you follow the confirmation email. The same page says pickup times vary by location. If the email and the three-day line disagree, use the email. That is what they tell you to read.

Their ship-to-pickup page says to search by address, ZIP code, or landmark, add the location to your address book, and select it at checkout. Every item in the order has to be eligible. If you type a pickup address yourself, they say the system will not recognize the order and will not deliver there. Their order-to-pickup page says the same thing, and it says the name on the order has to be right or the person may not be able to collect it.

Their locker pickup page describes two machines. One has a screen: use the 6-digit code or the barcode in the delivery email. One has no screen: use Start Pickup in the Amazon app, with location and Bluetooth on. If you do not collect it, they say the package is returned. Someone else can collect it if you forward that email.

Their eligibility page says a locker shipment has to weigh less than 10 pounds and measure smaller than 16 by 12 by 14 inches, be sold or fulfilled by Amazon.com, contain no hazardous materials, and stay under a total value of $5,000. Checkout flags what does not qualify. We are not measuring a packed box from here. If the locker is missing at checkout, the piece does not fit one.

A counter is the staffed desk. The pickup page says Amazon holds a counter package for seven days, including at some Whole Foods stores, and that there is no additional cost. It also says that if you miss the window they return it and refund you. Hours are the store's. The same page says to read the confirmation email, because pickup times vary by location.

Their counter pickup page says the delivery email includes a tracking ID, a pickup barcode, and the address and opening times. You show the pickup code to the person at the counter. To send someone else, forward that email. They note that some other pickup types, not this counter, can ask for a photo ID.

The eligibility page says a counter order has to be sold or fulfilled by Amazon.com, must not need special handling, and must not exceed 33 pounds or 36 by 24 by 24 inches. Some retail partners are stricter than that. Checkout is still the test.

The pickup page also says a Prime member still gets the fast, free shipping they already have on an order to a locker or a counter, and that without Prime, shipping to a locker or counter is free on an order of $35 or more. Those sentences are theirs. A gear price is not.

A hotel is not an Amazon pickup location. It is a street address. Use it when the locker or the counter will not take the piece, or when you will land after the hold Amazon printed. Call before you pay. Ask whether they accept a package for a guest who has not checked in, whose name must be on the box, and how long they will keep it. Confirm that answer. We are not quoting a hotel, and Amazon does not publish one.

Put your name and the arrival date where the hotel told you to put them. Do not type a locker's street address into that line. Amazon's ship-to-pickup page says a typed pickup address will not be delivered.

The longer Reno note, including a carrier hold for a box neither a locker nor a hotel desk wants, is ship gear to Reno. Food and drinking water are still a shop in Reno or Sparks. The parcel does not replace them.